Louis Van Gaal makes a damning assertion about Kevin De Bruyne’s Ballon d’Or chances
Despite a stellar season for Manchester City, former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal believes Kevin de Bruyne will not win the Ballon d’Or this season.
The Belgian playmaker, along with Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, is one of the front-runners for the award this year, having played a vital role in another title triumph at the Etihad Stadium.
He finished the season with the most goals of his career (19), including a remarkable four-goal haul in a recent thumping win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Meanwhile, he added 14 assists to his total.
Despite these statistics, Van Gaal believes De Bruyne may be overlooked for the Ballon d’Or this season due to France Football’s propensity for forwards or wingers.
Despite these statistics, Van Gaal has stated that De Bruyne may be overlooked for the Ballon d’Or this season due to France Football’s penchant for strikers or wingers.
Due to the duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Luka Modric is the only midfielder to have won the award in the last 15 years.
Instead, Van Gaal quipped that Club Brugge wonderkid Noa Lang would likely be higher up the pecking order after a strong season in the Belgian top flight this season.
Van Gaal remarked prior of the Netherlands’ Nations League match against Belgium: “Kevin De Bruyne, of course. For me, that’s the winner of the Golden Ball, but he won’t be chosen any time soon. They always pick attackers. In that respect, Noa Lang has a better chance than De Bruyne (laughs).”
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the award was not given out in 2020, but it was revived the following year, with Messi controversially winning it again, despite many anticipating Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski to win it.
De Bruyne was just one of a long list of players who backed the Polish striker ahead of the award.
He said: “If I have to choose, I’m looking at the two-year period, so I’d choose (Robert) Lewandowski for what he has done the last two years, goalscoring wise. He’d be my pick.”
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Louis Van Gaal makes a damning assertion about Kevin De Bruyne’s Ballon d’Or chances
